Easy Pickings

Sometimes things come too easily.

       Easy Pickings

Turtles, quicker than their reputation,
proved elusive in that summer lake,
swiftly sliding from their sun spots
when I rowed closer to capture them
or flash diving deep when I turned
to catch them catching their breath –
leaving only a bubble trail behind.

But in the muddy creek that fed that lake,

they turned half-ostrich, confident they were
hidden when they could no longer see.
I gathered them, still as stones – 1, 2, 3.
By the third one, turtles had lost their charm,
and my mind turned to slippery frogs,
leaping, leaping just beyond my reach.